Garage Doors in Hopkins SurveyThe bang you heard
at seven this morning.

A monthly look of your own at rollers, cables, hinges and the reversal test keeps small problems small, and a professional tune-up once a year covers the parts you cannot safely handle: spring tension, cable condition, track alignment and opener settings. A door that has come off its track once is worth this attention, because the event often reveals wear that has been building for a while.

Two causes are common. The door may be hanging out of level because a lift cable has stretched, a drum has crept on its shaft or spring tension is uneven, which drops one corner. Or the slab may have settled or heaved at that end so the floor falls away. The technician checks both before choosing a seal, since a level door and the right seal height together close a wedge-shaped gap.

Wipe the fin with a silicone spray or a silicone lubricant on a cloth in late autumn and once or twice through the winter. The film cuts the odds of meltwater bonding the fin to the cold door face, though a hard freeze can still catch it. Avoid oil-based products, which soften vinyl. If the door does freeze to the seal, let the sun or a little warm water free it, dry the spot afterwards, and avoid forcing the opener.

It depends on the door, and manufacturers disagree, which surprises many people. Some want the track kept clean and dry, since lubricant there can collect grit and let the wheels skid instead of roll, wearing the roller and the track edge; others specify lubricant at the track bend. The moving parts, roller bearings, hinge pins and springs, get their own lubricant either way, in the type the manual specifies, with a few cycles of the door to spread it.